The Soviet Educational System, a thread

The literacy rate in the Russian Empire was extremely low (of only 28,4% according to the 1897 census).
After the Bolshevik revolution, during the 8th Party Congress of 1919, the creation of the new Socialist education system was declared as the main aim of the Soviet government.

The Constitution of the RSFSR of July 10, 1918 dictated as follows:

In 1919, Vladimir Lenin signed the Sovnarkom decree, which introduced the policy of "liquidation of illiteracy" which made education compulsory for children and introduced special educational programs for people between the 16 and 50 years of age.

In 1926, the literacy rate was of 56.6% (80.9% in urban areas and 50.6% in the rural areas). By 1937 the total literacy rate was of 75% (86% for men and 65% for women).

The Soviet education system was called upon not only to solve general educational issues, like teaching the knowledge of laws of nature, social thinking or labor skills, but also to educate students in a spirit of high morality, marxism-leninism and proletarian internationalism.

In 1958 there were 29 polytechnical institutes, 30 of mechanical engineering, 27 of civil engineering, 7 of aviation, 27 of metallurgy, 18 of transport, 15 of electricity and communication, 13 of food industries, 10 of chemical engineering, 2 of meteorology and 2 of shipbuilding.

By the 1970's approximately 99.7% of Soviet people were literate. In 1975 there were 856 operating universities with more than 4.9 million students enrolled. At the beginning of the 1975 academic year, 167.000 schools were operating in the USSR with 48.8 million pupils enrolled.

The right of citizens of the USSR to free education at all levels, from primary to higher, was enshrined in the 1977 USSR Constitution (Article 45):

The Soviet education system was famous not only for its accessibility, but also for its quality according to international standards. Any SSR citizen had the possibility of entering the Moscow State University, study there for free and get loans that covered their basic needs.

References and further reading suggestions are in my wordpress article: https://oktyabrvperedi.wordpress.com/2020/07/21/brief-history-of-the-soviet-education-system/